1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector assembly, and particularly to an Insulation Displacement Connection (IDC) connector assembly for terminating a flat ribbon cable and for mating with a complementary connector mounted on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of Prior Art
Introduced in the 1980s, the parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) interface has been the dominant PC storage interface protocol for desktop and portable computers. The high-performance Ultra ATA-100 (also referred to as Ultra ATA direct memory access Mode 5), as the latest-generation parallel ATA interface, increases data transmitting speed up to 100 MB/sec between a 3.5 inch hard disk drive and system memory of a computer. However, there is no Ultra ATA interface for a 2.5 inch hard disk drive used in practical applications, such as a 2.5 inch hard disk drive used in a slim type desktop computer.
Currently available technology on the market does not meet the requirements for an Ultra ATA-100 interface used with a 2.5 inch hard disk drive. Cross talk between signal wires during massive, high speed data transmission, influences the signal integrity and speed, and thus makes current connectors unsuitable. Moreover, with the current high data transmitting speed requirement between electronic components, connectors meeting a high power requirement are also desired.
Related IDC connectors are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,193,545, 4,925,401, 6,033,238, 6,077,105, and 5,902,147.
An improved IDC connector assembly is desired to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an electrical IDC connector assembly useable in a high performance signal transmission environment.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an Ultra ATA-100 connector for use with 2.5 inch disk drives.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned objects, an electrical connector assembly in accordance with the present invention includes an IDC connector and a flat ribbon cable terminated to the IDC connector. The flat ribbon cable comprises a number of alternately positioned signal and grounding wires, and four power wires attached adjacent to the signal and grounding wires. The pitch between adjacent power wires is double the pitch between a signal wire and an adjacent grounding wire. The IDC connector has a number of terminals received in an elongated, insulative base, and a cover attachable to the insulative base for interposing the flat ribbon cable therebetween. The terminals are arranged in a staggered subsequence with each other in two rows corresponding to the signal and power wires of the flat ribbon cable. Each terminal has an IDC end for piercing the insulation of a corresponding wire of the flat ribbon cable, and a receptacle end for engaging with a complementary connector. The IDC connector also has a pair of grounding plates attached therein. The grounding plates each form a plurality of bifurcated projections extending therefrom and positioned to correspond with the position of the grounding wires and selected signal wires.